Carboloading with Panya's Yakisoba Sandwich

Panya is a great one-stop shop for inexpensive Japanese eats and home to a bountiful Japanese breakfast. But we discovered today that it's also the maker of what might be the most carbolicious sandwich ever: the yakisoba sandwich.

It's just like the spaghetti taco craze that was so popular this past fall -- only Asian. Encased inside a soft, squishy roll are noodles, pickled ginger, cooked Napa cabbage, and bonito flakes, topped by some sort of dried herb. The super-pungent ginger and mystery herb are on both sides of the sandwich, so some redistribution of the filling is needed. The cabbage is quite crunchy -- thankfully, since without it the sandwich would be a bit of a starchy mess. In fact, it's hard to get a real sense of the noodles while chewing -- they kind of just blend into everything else. Somewhat surprising, the sandwich wasn't soggy at all and the noodles were still fairly warm, suggesting that Panya must make batches of these and dispense them out throughout the day. Would we order it again? Probably not, but it's one of those foods that's worth trying once in your life for the sheer enjoyment of saying you ate a sandwich filled with noodles.

According to a quick Google search, it appears that yakisoba sandwiches are actually fairly commonplace, good for picnics or beach excursions. It is a sort of a genius, low-mess way to have noodles. Fork in the Road readers: Know of any other worthy yakisoba sandwiches in New York?